People Matter

1. Read: Psalm 8:3-8

2. About the Text:

1) Psalm 8:3-8 teaches that people hold a special place above God’s creation.

2) People matter to God.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. God created humanity in His image.

1) “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

2) “…who have been made in the similitude of God” (James 3:9).

3) This means we have reason, emotions, a conscience, morality, free will.

2. Sinful man fell from the fullness of that original divine image.

1) Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit so that they could be “like God” (Genesis 3:5).

2) Instead, they fell from God’s likeness and became corrupted.

3) Genesis 5:3 says, “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”

4) Sin corrupts the original image in which God made humanity.

5) “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

3. Jesus came to restore the image that God made.

1) “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

2) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15).

3) “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

4) “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23).

5) “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

1. Sin creates a barrier between us and God.

1) “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

2) “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).

3) “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

2. Jesus came to destroy this barrier.

1) “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

2) “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

3) “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

3. Jesus death demonstrates the price God was willing to pay to redeem mankind.

1) “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

2) “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

1. Sin prevented man from living forever.

1) “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’” (Genesis 3:22).

2) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

3) “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15).

2. Jesus makes it possible to have eternal life by paying the price of sin.

1) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

2) “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

3. We must not fall back into a life of lawlessness.

1) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven… And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21, 23).

2) “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness” (Romans 6:19).

4. We must keep the commandments of God.

1) “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).

2) “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).

1. People Matter because…

1) They were created in the image of God.

2) Jesus died on the cross for them.

3) They were created to live forever.

2. Invitation